with laserdisc almost certain to never come back ive been wondering how much longer we have until the players are all dead and discs are lost or damaged? Think about all those players that get damaged during shipping all the time, one day they could all be broken.. What if some major changes go on and we stop using electricity the way we use it now? So far i've spent about 500$ on discs and players and I start wondering what i would do with it all if i couldn't use it anymore.. how much longer do we have? 20 years? 50 years?

I'm not worried about it. Not because were all gonna die on December 21st anyways, but because there's not a single disc that I'm gonna watch enough that it's going to wear out and become unwatchable.

Secondly, as long as there is demand, someone out there will take advantage of this and make a new player. There's a reason you still see vinyl in stores. I don't see laserdisc ever going away for that very reason

Just rip em to hard drives as best quality as you can. Then don't worry, be happy.

Elvis

Eventually most of the players will break down and get junked. Only the ones built like a tank will survive longer. There will be few remaining individuals who know how to repair these machines, and spare parts will be few and far between. One day there won't be anyone around who will know how to fix these machines professionally. Just like there won't be any professional mechanics in the future who will know how to repair a carburetor. I'd say in about 20 to 30 years.


I doubt that. The last LD players were made over a decade ago. Turntables are still being produced today, many with USB ports. There are still a few records produced a year too (usually on high quality 180 gram vinyl), so comparing LDs to vinyl isn't apt. The more TVs improve in picture quality the worse LDs will look, and most of the remaining LD aficionados will give up on them. (Even now it takes a lot of effort and money to make LDs look decent in the digital age.) Some day in the near future only the rarest of the rare laserdiscs and players will be of any interest.

Your hard drive is very likely to malfunction before all LD Players in the world malfunction.

Good day jjhunsecker, elviscaprice, gbpxl,

I suppose I don't worry to much about how long the software & hardware will last, as I invested heavily into the Laserdisc format when I first got into Home Cinema in April 1998.

I gathered at the time that laserdisc was on the slide, and so I worked hard and purchased all that I needed in order for myself to enjoy the LD format for many years to come.

Hello gbpxl,
Some people are getting concerned about the Aztec calender ending on 21st Dec but, do not realise, or appreciate all of the prophesies found in the Bible from ancient times, as well as the present that came true and that are currently unfolding in our times.

All of the major events in history were mentioned around 2,500+ yrs ago in detail in the Bible book of Daniel amongst others, including both world wars, the cold war, wars in the middle east and a thousand years ahead of our times.

We truly are living in priviledged times indeed and true knowledge in understanding them is the key.

Sincere Regards to all

i hope by "giving up" you suggest people selling their stuff and not throwing it away

Yes, when I say hard drive, always assume backup hard drive, test, retest, recopy. Now that was easy.
Elvis

I don't suggest anything. "Giving up" can mean several options: selling, donating, recycling or trashing. I'd rather people don't throw their discs away, though.

The supply of laserdisc players is likely to run out first in Europe, then the US and finally Japan. You will see this yourself if you look at the auctions and number of players available on any given day across different countries which mirrors this prediction.

So if you have a large collection of PAL LDs you would be well advised to stock up before there are none available as there are far less PAL players worldwide and they will be the first to vanish. If you live in Australia and have a large PAL collection you could be starved of hardware quite soon. Luckily most of my players are dual format players and as only a small portion of my collection are PAL LDs I think I will be ok for PAL playback for decades to come.

I also stock piled players while there are plenty available in the UK as I did not want to be faced with a situation where I was forced to start importing from Japan or US unless I really have to. My investment in hardware is really small when compared to how much I have spent on laserdiscs so it was not a difficult decision to make to purchase some additional backup players.

If you reside in UK the lack of places to go for repairs will also mean either you have the spare hardware to last the distance, or have the funds to pay for a repair abroad however much it costs, or will simply give up on the format when you run out of hardware. I suspect most people will give up, the remainder will have spare hardware for 20-30 years and the the real die hard fans will pay whatever it takes to keep their machines working.

hi, guys:

stay in calm. things gonna happen will happen all the way, we can not help at all.

think about the expiry of laserdiscs in such a reverse way. it is merely and surely because of its definitely extinction that we collect them then appreciate them like pieces of Jewellery.

if, like DVDs nowadays, heaps of laserdiscs are manufactured every year, i doubt any of us would consider collecting or appreciating them anyway.

at the moment, i got 4 active players at home. from time to time i have to fire them up once around to be sure that they are still alive. who knows at what time which one of them will go to sleep for ever!

some years later, when all the players go inactive we can still enjoy ourselves through the memory of owing them and watching them. that is my point of view, stay current and enjoy.

With 3D printing becoming more common, replacement of broken plastic parts can only become easier. Many player failures seem to be the result of problems of this kind, or with easily-replaced electronic parts such as capacitors. Maybe there will be a cottage industry rebuilding pick-up heads, & the models to own will be those this service is readily available for.

I have to say that in my recent attempts to repair a player I was very impressed with Pioneer's continued support of the format. I needed two new parts for my broken player and both could still be purchased from them. I think as long as Pioneer keep up this level of support then we should be able to maintain our players almost indefinitely.

If Pioneer does eventually pull support then hopefully some dedicated fans will set up a cottage industry as phiblius suggested, I like the sound of the 3D printing idea.

Despite all that has come up against it the laserdisc format has persevered due to the dedication of the fans and Pioneer and I don't see that changing any time soon.

one thing that gives me hope is the laser turntable, I hear the ELP company went out on their own when they started, they didn't get any help from anyone when they started and i think they still do it all themselves. I saw the video they have on their website; it's pretty amazing that they made something that can read a record with a laser, without any help from anyone, in just one small building.. so maybe somebody could come along and do the same thing with laserdiscs, start up a small company and make LD players from scratch

I agree - producing a laserdisc player would a zillion times easier than having to design from scratch a device that could play vinyl via a laser which is a stunning achievement.
So if they have already done that, a laserdisc player would be child's play to that company. All it takes is someone with a vision to get the ball rolling again.

I really do not understand this. What's the point ?
I collect LD's to enjoy the format and I enjoy viewing them with the best equipment possible.
It would be not funny at all to rip them to my HDD in order to play them on my Xbox...

I've heard that laser turntables didn't take off because it was found that the best way of keeping a disc clean was to play it with a real stylus even though that would ultimately damage the disc. I've always been curious about them though, I didn't think anyone had released a commercial version. I agree that it could lead to a possible new LD player some day, who knows...

The main points are these:
1. The preservation of material not available on any other source.
2. You don't have to worry about laser rot or lack of operable players.
3. Save space and sell the collection/player once you have achieved digital status.
4. Makes it easy to travel with your material anywhere in the world.
5. Most stereo/viewing material is going digital, makes it easier for you to view the material from future equipement.

Why are you limited to the Xbox? Why not play them also on the best digital equipment possible? Which seems to be in vogue and easy to do.
Elvis

Digital, digital, digital. Digital is not the beginning and end all. RIGHT NOW that appears to be the case of course, but this old world is gonna keep spin'in around unless the Mayans are right. Some can't seem to see that at some point there WILL be a desire for ALTERNATIVES to pixels. Believe it or not, analog is not perfected. Some behind the scenes are working on ways to prominently bring life new life to analog systems. It ain't gonna be soon, but some form of laserdisc will return in the next 10 to 20 years.

Never happen, guaranteed. Smaller more compact digital devices is the future. Digital is here to stay (25 years + already). As us old analog folks die off, it will only become more prevalent. Let's just hope we (the consumer) can force them into better digital quality.
Elvis